Meet the Team: Anya Hankin
We are mere weeks away from launching our new online hub Our Outdoors, and we wanted to introduce one of the people who has been critical in bringing it into being!
Meet Anya Hankin — a leadership mentor, facilitator, and creative catalyst living and working in Portland, Oregon on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Clackamas, and Tualatin Kalapuya people.
Anya has been guiding vital communities of practice online and in-person for over 20 years. As she puts it, “I love creating online and in-person spaces that truly invite collective participation and co-creation. I know that we all have something to teach and something to learn — and I get so excited when people embrace the value of their own leadership and begin to share what they are passionate about.”
Recently brought on as a consultant to help FFS design and develop the Our Outdoors platform, Anya has been key in integrating creative ways for our community to engage online around nature play.
“It’s been a joy to witness the deep devotion and care the team has for this work and their vision of a world in which every child grows up playing outdoors,” she said. “I’m particularly excited about the Explorations feature that we’ve been building, which offers resources, guided reflection, wisdom-sharing, and learning prompts all about unstructured outdoor play. You’ll be able to engage in an Exploration and then take the learning immediately out into your own nature adventure — and then come back to the platform to reflect and share!”
When asked about her personal connection to nature, Anya shared: “My childhood memories in Oregon are filled with outdoor adventures alongside a gaggle of other kids — splashing around in the nearby lake, parading through the woods, running up and down the hillsides to one another’s homes. My parents definitely prioritized getting us outside in every season. I loved camping in the summertime and skiing in the winter and playing outside even when it was raining (which it often was).”
Now as an adult, Anya considers nature her recalibration. “Daily nature walks (even in the bustle of the city) have kept me grounded over this last year.” In addition to sensory exploration — including digging her hands in the dirt or sitting by a body of water — Anya loves making temporary nature art installations in her neighborhood (see pic above), inviting folks to pause as they walk by.
Anya also relishes her role as auntie, both “to kids connected to me by blood and also by beloved community.” Her seven-year-old nibbling (a gender-neutral term for the child of one’s sibling) has taught her about the names of trees, plants, and birds. “I always ask him when I don’t know how to identify things — and he always knows. I learn so much from him!” Other outdoor activities Anya enjoys doing with littles include hunting for chanterelles in the fall, building entire villages out of sand and stones, planting and tending to gardens.
We’re so honored to have Anya on the team (follow more of her work at www.anyahankin.com), and we can’t wait for you to experience the fruits of her and the FFS crew’s labor of love when we connect with you soon on Our Outdoors! Until then, stay safe and get outside if you can.